I know, it's been a long week. I really apologize for the silence during the week, but real-life duties call. Enjoy!
Chapter 8 The Rescue
Gingerly lowering her shields she tried to pick up on the thoughts of the guy waiting for an attack but couldn't find him again, and she was afraid he must have already left. Looks like she'll have to come back tomorrow. The crowd had thinned out a lot, they must have done last call.
"Feeling better?" Leanna asked as she passed with a tray of dirty glasses and empty bottles.
Sookie smiled warmly at her, "Yeah, thanks. Did I miss last call?" Keeping up the charade so she could return to deal with the VampBait problem.
"Yeah, but it's not a big deal. Most of the customers had gone by then anyway."
"So what's the closing routine?" Sookie started picking up glasses and bottles.
"Pretty much this. The dishwasher will get the glasses from the bar and do wipe down. Just settle up at the register and you can go." The lights came on and they both blinked to adjust their eyes. As Sookie was looking around she noticed Eric was gone from his throne. She gathered another tray of glasses quickly, trying to think of an excuse to join him.
Fortunately, Pam came in and supplied it. "Desirée there are some papers you have to sign, follow me to the office." She walked on towards the office without breaking stride.
"Yes Mistress." Sookie replied, setting her tray down and and mouthing "sorry" to Lily and Leanna. She followed Pam to the office.
As soon as she closed the door Eric was grabbing her shoulders. "What did you see?" His fangs were out and he was furious.
"He has her in the backroom of a boarded up business." She gave the cross-streets. "He lives upstairs. Will you need to be invited to go in?"
"Maybe, if he owns it and considers the whole thing his residence. Is he alone?"
"No, I couldn't see the other person, but he had to get back and meet him and he's taking part in the rapes. Eric, we've got to get her out of there." She had tears in her eyes for Thalia.
Eric hugged her, "We will, we'll leave now."
She shook her head and stepped back. "I have to finish the shift, I have to work again tomorrow."
"We'll get them tonight, so you don't have to." Eric reasoned.
"No, someone connected with the VampBait was here waiting for another attack. I didn't want to lose this scumbag so I couldn't pinpoint him. I'll work again tomorrow and try to find him."
"Give me your apron," Pam instructed, "I'll have Indira do your tally and make an excuse to the others regarding the paperwork. Then we'll leave out the back." Sookie gave her the apron and Pam left.
"Can you open a locked door even if you can't enter the building?"
He nodded, "I can break it down but that may prompt them to kill Thalia, and we won't be able to stop them."
"But I can go in, maybe force them to invite you in. Do you have a weapon I can use to threaten them?"
"Would you use it? If not, they can easily turn it on you."
"I've defended myself before." She jutted out her jaw in determination.
"Alright," he went over to a file cabinet and pulled out a knife and a revolver. "Which do you want?"
"The gun is too loud." She said as she took the knife. "We should bring some True Blood. She'll need it."
"She'll need more than that." He moved to the minifridge and took out a couple of IV bags full of blood and stuffing them into a messenger bag.
"Where did you get that?" She looked at him accusingly.
"I pay a blood bank, not entirely legal, but we don't have unwilling humans in the backroom." His eyes challenged her to protest.
Her mouth was a grim line but she just nodded. She looked down at her dress and realized she had no place to put the knife. "Damn, I should have brought a change of clothes. This outfit is useless."
"But quite flattering." He came up and wrapped his arms around her. "You don't have to go, Pam and I can take care of this."
She relaxed against him but shook her head. "Not if you can't get in. You need me, Thalia needs me."
His arms tightened, "You always amaze me." He kissed the top of her head.
"Ahem." Pam cleared her throat from the doorway. They turned to look at her but did not part. "Do we have a plan?"
"I'll break down the door. If we can't enter Sookie will force them to invite us." Sookie held up the knife.
"That's it?" Pam looked dubious.
"Unless you have a better one." Sookie challenged.
"Unfortunately, no." She shrugged. "Are we flying?"
Eric looked down at Sookie, her eyes widened but she nodded. He grinned, taking her hand and leading her out the back door.
Once in the alley he took the knife from her and tucked it into his belt. He moved to pick her up but she shook her head and climbed onto one of the crates. "Turn around." she instructed. With a bemused look he turned his back to her and she put one arm over his shoulder and brought the other up under his other arm and clasped them across his chest. Pam watched the whole procedure with an eyebrow raised.
"Have we done this before?" he asked.
"You ran with me on your back, but I don't think you left the ground."
Handing the knife to Pam, he grabbed her behind the knees and hoisted her further up so she was riding piggyback. "Wrap your legs around me too, we'll be going fast and high." She did and with no other warning he pushed off. Her arms and legs tightened around him and she closed her eyes and pressed her face against his back because they were going so fast the air stung.
"Are you okay?" he asked after a minute.
She nodded against his back and could feel him laugh.
In just a few minutes more they were slowing and going down. She looked up. "What's wrong?"
"Nothing, we're here." He landed softly. He let go of her legs but she stayed wrapped around him. "You can let go." He suggested.
"Give me a minute." she said, taking a deep, calming breath, trying to will her muscles to loosen. He chuckled and ran his fingers along the underside of her thighs. She squirmed and scolded him in a hushed voice "Eric!". But she was able to unwrap her legs and lowered herself to the ground. He turned to steady her.
"I've got you." his hands were on her hips and she braced her hands on his upper arms. "Are you alright?"
She nodded gulping, "I'm going to need goggles if we do that again."
Pam came up and thrust her hand with the knife between them. "Which building?" she asked, her fangs were out and she looked like she wanted to kill something.
Taking the knife, Sookie looked around. Three of the four corners had boarded up businesses. The recession had hit this part of Shreveport hard. Recognizing the building she pointed it out. "That one, the door's in back." Pam headed up the alley Sookie had indicated, Eric took her hand, kissed the back and they followed his child. There was a car parked there, Pam felt the hood.
"It's still warm." she whispered.
Eric headed for the door, but Sookie put her hand on his arm, then closed her eyes to "look" in the building. She found the emptiness that indicated a vampire in a ground floor room to the left of the door, she was alone. Upstairs she found two human minds, they were in the same room and not moving around. One she knew, the dark, slimy mind of the dealer, the other was just as dark. They were reveling in their take and drinking heavily.
Sookie related this to her companions. "Can you glamor an invitation?" They nodded. "Okay, let's try to open the door quietly. Give me the blood and I'll sneak in and give it to Thalia. They don't think she is going to last much longer. I'll block the door so they can't get in and then you make some noise and glamor them when they come down." She looked for agreement.
The vampires exchanged looks then Eric handed her the bag with the blood, grabbing her wrist after she took the bag. "Do not untie her," he said urgently, "give her the blood but leave her bound."
"But..." Sookie began to protest.
Eric tightened his grip and she winced in pain. "Do not untie her, we don't know what state she's in. I mean it." Sookie could tell by his expression that he did and she nodded.
"Okay, let's go." He released her and headed for the door. Turning the knob he found that it was locked but Eric turned it harder and something crunched inside the knob and the door opened quietly. He tried a step forward and his foot crossed the threshold. He looked back at them, his fangs were out and he looked excited, he began moving up the hall and motioned them to follow. Sookie pointed to the door at the end of the hall.
"Those are the stairs up." she whispered. "This is the door to Thalia." Indicating the one to her left.
"Feed her, don't untie her." He instructed again, and she nodded, fighting to keep from rolling her eyes because she wanted him to know she took it seriously. He and Pam continued down the hall. She went to the door and tried the knob. This one was not locked. She entered it slowly, closing the door behind her, then grasping blindly for the string she knew would turn on the bare bulb in the ceiling. As the bulb flickered on Thalia hissed and struggled weakly. Sookie almost threw-up at what the dim light revealed.
Thalia was naked, blindfolded and chained to a table with silver, her skin burned away wherever the chains touched. One arm was hanging off the side of the table strapped to a board with a catheter draining the blood from her. Her butt was right up to the edge of the table and her legs tied so that her heels were against the back of her thighs granting her rapists easy access. Extra silver chains were draped across her torso and around her breasts just for the pain they caused. She was gaunt and drawn, her skin looked like stretched leather. Setting aside her own revulsion Sookie approached her slowly, speaking softly and soothingly.
"It's okay Thalia," she whispered. "It's me, Sookie. Eric, Pam and I are here to rescue you." She pulled the tube from the vampire's arm, the hole began to close, but very slowly by vampire standards. She took that as a very bad sign. She removed the blindfold but Thalia's eyes were wild and showed no recognition of Sookie. She cut a corner off one of the blood bags and held it to Thalia's lips. "I have blood for you Thalia, drink it." Thalia bit at Sookie's fingers and she pulled them back. "Thalia, it's Sookie, you have to drink from the bag." She let a few drops fall on the emaciated vampire's lips and her tongue came out and sampled them, her eyes focused on the bag and Sookie again lowered it to her lips murmuring encouragement. "Okay, Thalia, here's the bag, just drink the blood okay?" Thalia latched onto the bag and started draining it quickly. Sookie held it up so she could get every drop. Overhead she heard a small scuffle that lasted only a few seconds. She sighed, Eric and Pam should be down soon.
Thalia drained the first bag in less than a minute. Sookie cut the second bag and Thalia took it without a problem. She seemed to be calming somewhat but still tugged on her restraints. "Thalia, don't, Pam and Eric will be down soon and they'll untie you." Sookie could hear raised voices overhead, but couldn't make out what they were saying, surely whatever the fight was about could wait. Thalia had just about drained the second bag, Sookie released it but Thalia held on to it with her mouth. Sookie looked down at the bound woman with tears in her eyes. "I can't untie you, but I'm going to try to get rid of some of these chains. I'm sorry if this hurts."
Gingerly Sookie started to lift the chain that was wrapped around one of Thalia's breasts. The vampire hissed and arched her back. "I'm sorry Thalia, I wish I could make this not hurt. But look your skin is healing." Indeed, as the chain was removed the ugly wounds were closing up. She repeated the procedure on the other side, Thalia was lying still, maybe she had passed out. Quickly, Sookie removed the chains criss-crossing her abdomen. She wondered what was taking Eric and Pam so long.
"Thalia, I'll be right back, I'm going to get Pam." She whispered to the still form. Clasping the knife, she listened at the door, first with her ears and then with her mind. The vampires seemed to be pacing and the humans were still. She opened the door and went to the stairway at the end of the hall. In a normal voice she said, "I'm coming up.", knowing the vampires could hear her without yelling. She started up the stairs.
Pam met her at the top of the stairway. "How is she?"
"Bad, she drank all the blood, but she still looks leathery. I removed the tube they were using to drain her, and some chains that were only there to torture her, but if I can't untie her that's all I can do." She felt pretty useless at this point.
Pam nodded. "Eric has things in hand up here, I'll go down to be with her. Stay with Eric." She sounded grim.
Sookie entered the open doorway, the place smelled of garbage and stale beer. The rooms were strewn with fast food wrappers. The two drainers were sitting in rickety kitchen chairs, with vacant expressions on their faces. They were answering Eric's questions in a dull monotone. He stopped them when he saw her.
"Did they have any other accomplices?" she asked.
Eric shook his head, "No apparently, it was just them. They followed her home to find her house and set a trap with one of those damn silver nets." Sookie remembered how the two hired thugs had been able to catch Eric in one of those.
"Do they know anything about the fairy blood?" Not that she really thought they did but she wanted to be sure.
Eric turned back towards them. "Are you involved in the draining of fairies?"
They looked confused, "We haven't drained any fags, there's no money in it."
"Please tell me they aren't really human." She looked at them with loathing, she was ashamed for her species.
"I'm afraid they are." He turned to the refrigerator. Inside there was some beer, rotten food and several IV bags of blood.
"Thalia's?"
He nodded and picked up a crumpled bag from the floor and filled it with the bags of blood and the cash that was spread on the table.
"I'm going to see if I can find a clean blanket to cover Thalia." She went down a short hall. She wanted to ask Eric what he was going to do with the men, but she was afraid of the answer and even more afraid to admit to herself that she didn't really care. Opening a closet door she found a blanket crumpled and shoved on a shelf. She shook it out and it looked clean enough, so she threw it over her arm.
When she came back into the kitchen Eric had the men on their feet. "Do you want me to carry that?" She asked pointing to the bag. He nodded, tight-lipped and handed it to her. She started down the stairs and heard Eric and the men following her.
When she got to the bottom of the stair, she proceeded to the hall and opened the door to Thalia's room. She had the briefest view of Thalia, unchained, sitting on the table, Pam holding her by her shoulders. Then Thalia launched herself at Sookie and Pam cursed in the background. The force of the charge slammed Sookie into the wall opposite the door. Only instinct allowed her to bring the bulk of the blanket between her and the feral vampire, but it was an inadequate shield to the task and she knew it. Thalia was snarling and clawing at the blanket, which was shredding, and Sookie cried out as the vampire's nails sliced her arm.
Pam and Eric were yelling and suddenly Thalia was no longer attacking, though Sookie could still hear her snarls. There was a scuffle and a door slammed shut, muffled screams could be heard and then they died out. Trembling, she lowered the flimsy shield and looked at the door then around her. Pam and Eric stood there, both had rapidly healing gashes. Pam was looking with satisfaction at the closed door, Eric was looking at her, his expression unreadable. Neither drainer was in the hallway.
"You're bleeding." Pam pointed out when she smelled the blood in the air.
Sookie looked at her arm, in addition to a deep gash there were several lighter scratches that she didn't feel until now. The blanket probably saved her from a major slashing.
"I'll heal." she shrugged. She looked at the closed door. "Will Thalia?"
Pam licked her lips, looking at Sookie's arm, but spoke. "She needed a lot of blood, they drained her severely."
"But mentally, will she be okay?"
Still fixated on the blood oozing from Sookie's wounds Pam shrugged. "If she has enough blood she'll go into a healing sleep, if not we'll have to get her out of here and then deal with her." Her eyes never left the scratches.
Rolling her eyes, Sookie extended the arm, "Oh for... go ahead, lick it off." Pam did not need to be told twice, she took Sookie's arm and began to lick. Sookie turned to Eric and jerked her head in the direction of her arm. "Eric?" she offered.
He shook his head and addressed his child. "Pam, can you take care of this?"
Pam lifted her head and sighed, "I think so, Thalia should be manageable and I'll take care of the evidence." Sookie looked at her arm, the chemical in Pam's saliva had stopped the bleeding.
He turned to the door and said over his shoulder, "Sookie, when you're ready, I'll take you home." He went out the door.
Sookie stared at the door wondering what was wrong with Eric, she looked at Pam questioningly, but she just rolled her eyes. Worried about Eric's new mood Sookie grabbed the bag and moved to the door.
Pam put her hand on Sookie's shoulder to stop her. "Before you go, can you sense if there are any people in the building next to this one?"
Sookie closed her eyes and reached out with her gift. She could sense no one in the next building, human or vampire. She opened her eyes and relayed this to Pam, then asked "Why?"
Pam raised one eyebrow in an expression that clearly asked if Sookie really wanted to know. The telepath decided she didn't. "Goodnight Pam." she said softly before joining Eric in the alley.